West Bengal registers alarming HIV/AIDS rise

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West Bengal registers alarming HIV/AIDS rise

Wednesday November 30 2005 00:00 IST

IANS

KOLKATA: West Bengal has witnessed an alarming rise in HIV/AIDS

cases, with 0.5 percent of its people aged between 15 and 49 found

to be carrying the virus.

" There has been a tremendous rise in HIV/AIDS cases, " said Suresh

Kumar, project director of the West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and

Control Society (WBSACS).

" The rise in number of infections is tremendous. It is rising and

rising, " Kumar told IANS.

The 2001 census figure put the total population of West Bengal at 80

million.

West Bengal had 2,397 reported cases of full blown AIDS as of July

2005, according to official estimates of the National AIDS Control

Organisation (NACO), of which WBSACS is a unit. A total of 6,941

people are HIV positive in West Bengal.

While India officially had 111,608 cases of AIDS till July, the

country has an HIV/AIDS population of 5.1 million, second only to

South Africa with 5.3 million infected people, according to

international health organisations.

" The infections are high among almost all major risk groups,

especially the flying sex workers followed by injecting drug users.

The MSM (Men having sex with Men) community is also showing a rising

trend, " said Kumar.

" Flying sex workers are most infected than the more organised

brothel-based ones as they don't always take the precautions and are

often under compulsions, " he said.

" We have scaled our programme among the flying sex workers and the

truckers in the city and districts, " said Kumar.

" We spend about Rs.430 million a year on prevention and awareness

campaigns supplemented with manpower help from the state government,

which is about Rs.80 million, but we need much more to fight the

menace, " said Kumar.

Six states in India are already designated 'red' or high prevalence

states - with an HIV prevalence of over one percent of the total

population.

And though the levels of prevalence appear to have stabilised in the

worst affected states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and

Maharashtra (Manipur and Nagaland are the other states), it is still

increasing among at-risk population groups in several less prevalent

states.

The alarming rise of the fatal disease in West Bengal comes as a

shock since it was considered a low prevalence state. WBSACS is one

of the frontrunners in the awareness campaign, especially with its

creation of an animated character called Bula-di who emerged as an

icon of fight against the virus.

Bula-di (di meaning didi or elder sister) is the woman next door

with the message of safe sex.

Bula-di is the animated middle class housewife icon of HIV/AIDS

awareness in West Bengal and has become a familiar figure since

World AIDS Day on Dec 1 last year when she appeared on billboards,

TV spots and radio jingles.

" It is a successful campaign but it has to be reinforced with inter

personal communication, " said Kumar.

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